A lucid answer to What makes a good question? quoted French philosopher Gilles Deleuze to the effect that a great thinker effectively lives her whole life within the boundaries of a single, great question.
This reminded me of a similar statement in an 2010 interview with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, where he insists that in his books (on problems of randomness, probability and uncertainty) he is always elaborating on one idea, that it takes maybe 30, 40, or 50 years to get and elaborate on only one such idea, and that this may occur late in life. In Taleb's books the same idea makes appearances e.g. in relation to different applications. (In the latest iteration it is called antifragility, an earlier term was convexity.)
Regarding the Deleuze quote (or summary) I am currently more interested in the part where he refers to boundaries of single, great questions, less so in dramatization and 'actualization' of the question. (The usual prejudices surrounding contemporary French philosophy may play a role here :) So with that, e.g. which article or book by Deleuze should I consult?